Airport Utility cannot find Time Capsule ("device not found")

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Level 1

29 points

Airport Utility cannot find Time Capsule ("device not found")

I have a brandnew TimeCapsule connected to my router via Ethernet and all my Apple devices connect to it over wifi for internet access. 1 imac (mid-2010 27 inch), 2 iphones (4 and 5s) and 1 ipad (3). The Time Machine backup is working fine. I'm running the lastest software versions on everything including Maverick on the imac.

Every now and again, the Airport Unitlity on the imac can no longer see the TC ("device not found"). The internet connectivity over wifi still works, however, on all devices including the imac. The TM backups also seem unaffected. The TC itself is showing a green operating light the whole time.

What's strange is that when I run the Airport Utility App on my ipad simultaneously it shows everything is fine while on the imac it says "device not found". Restarting the airport utility doesn't change anything. I have to turn the imac wifi off and back on and then the TC shows up again. But within minutes the problem repeats itself and it says "device not found".

I've been reading a lot of support discussions and can't seem to find the same issue anywhere. The closest thing I've come across is a problem with wifi channels (neighbours using same channel). Could this be the problem?

Could the fact that the problem is only showing up on the imac not the other devices be linked to the different frequencies the TC basestation operates at (2.4 and 5Ghz)?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Jan

iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Dec 17, 2013 2:05 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Dec 17, 2013 3:51 PM in response to europajan

This is a standard issue.. the bug has been there since Lion but got worse in Mountain Lion and is apparently worse again in Mavericks..

Reboot the TC itself .. not wifi in the computer.. it is the disk that is lost.. not the network connection.

There is no fix as such.. Apple keep releasing new versions of the OS but each seems to have the same issue.

Some things help.

IPv6 must be on to Link-local in whatever network client is being used.

Use names on the TC that are smb compatible.. note.. Mavericks now uses SMB for default connections.

So names are short, 2-20 characters, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.

Is the TC the main router or is it bridged?

I would have a go setting longer or shorter lease times for dhcp.. very short is the way I would go.. 30min.

I would manually mount the hard disk.. and force it to AFP in Mavericks.

AFP://TCname or TCIPaddress if static.. replacing with the actual name or IP obviously.

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Answer 2

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Dec 17, 2013 4:47 PM in response to LaPastenague

This is helpful thanks but I'm not sure I understand it all.

I've rebooted the TC (unplugged it and plugged it back in after a minute) and for the past hour or so everything has been fine. It's too early to say though if the problem will reoccur. I'll post an update in the next 24 hours.

IPv6 is currently set to Automatic. I've no idea what changing it implies.

I am using short names for my TC, my network and my imac without spaces or special characters e.g. JanTimeCapsule, as advised by Pondini. Some of the other wireless clients using the wifi network have names with hyphens in them ('-').

The TC is set up to be my main router. It is connected to a Netgear router provided by my ISP. I've set the Netgear router to modem mode so it doesn't emit any wireless signal, and connected it to the TC Ethernet WAN port.

My DHCP lease is currently set to 1 day. I've no idea what this means.

I also have no idea what forcing to Apple File Protocol (AFP) imples. Where and how do do this and to what effect?

I also have a few more questions regarding settings in the Airport Utility: why can I not access any of the Base Station menu options (they are all greyed out)?

What does "Allow setup over WAN" mean? It is currently unticked.

Thanks again and hope you can give further insights!

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Answer 3

Dec 17, 2013 5:40 PM in response to europajan

IPv6 is currently set to Automatic. I've no idea what changing it implies.

You need it set to link local.. not automatic.

Apple released a doco.. which is barely visible.. but it is important.

Need ipv6 in 6.3 utility

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4597

I used to tell people to turn ipv6 off.. now I have to tell them to use it in a particular mode.

It is easy to set.. open the network preferences go to the advanced settings and fix it.. you will not notice anything other than more stability if it helps.

I've set the Netgear router to modem mode so it doesn't emit any wireless signal, and connected it to the TC Ethernet WAN port.

So that means the TC is in pppoe or dhcp mode on the Internet tab.. please post a screenshot and then I can tell you if it is right or wrong.

My DHCP lease is currently set to 1 day. I've no idea what this means.

Some things you need to lookup.. dhcp automatically provides your computer an IP address.. a Lease time is how long that address will last.. I want you to try changing it.. You change it on the airport utility.. it is dead simple.. set to a new number and update.. you will notice nothing.. except maybe improved stability. You can just tick hour instead of day.. one variable.. save it and update the TC.

I also have no idea what forcing to Apple File Protocol (AFP) imples. Where and how do do this and to what effect?

It means that you will change over in Mavericks from using SMB to AFP.. you will only notice improved stability.

You set it in finder.. Go, Connect to server.

Type in AFP://TCname or AFP://TCIPaddress.. exactly as I posted above.

The computer will request a password.. this is important that it is stored in the keychain..this might be part cause of the instability.. by default it is public.. type that.. save in keychain.

why can I not access any of the Base Station menu options (they are all greyed out)?

You are in a mode where the options are not allowed.. eg in PPPoE mode then other options are not possible.. pick one option and other options are eliminated..

Find out.. this is how you find things out.. you can export your current settings if you are worried about getting back again. top menu of airport utility.. under file, press reset and start over. Factory reset.. now all the options are accessible .. set some.. then set the key one.. internet.. when you set that one.. all the others will change that are no longer valid or will grey out options that will not work.. the more you set the less other options are available. .. because it fixes certain items that HAVE to be used..

eg Network has to be DHCP or DHCP+NAT .. you cannot bridge to PPPoE.

What does "Allow setup over WAN" mean? It is currently unticked.

So you have remote access to control the TC or airport.. this should be off by default or it will give you an error anyway.. It is a huge security risk to turn it on. You never allow remote access to setup.. But for instance you need help and Apple offer to do remote setup for you they might ask you to tick it.. I doubt it ever happens but that is what it could be for.

Try the options.. if it doesn't work go back to how it was.. import your exported configuration and voila.. you will be back to the same setup you had before you started.

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Answer 4

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Dec 18, 2013 4:52 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for all the detailed instructions.

To answer your question, my TC is in DHCP mode, not PPPoE.

Since rebooting the TC more than 24 hours ago it has worked fine. No more "device not found" messages in the Airport Utility and everything else works fine too.

For this reason I will wait and see before I make any of the changes you suggest. If the problem recoccurs or I have other stability issues, I'll use your instructions to help me. But if it all works without any changes, all the better 🙂

Next I'll be setting up an airport Express at the other end of my house to extend the network into the garden. It's not strong enough without an extension. Hopefully that will be straightforward.

Thanks again!

Jan

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Answer 5

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Dec 20, 2013 1:44 PM in response to LaPastenague

OK so today the issue is back. Airport Utlity says 'device not found'.

I will spend some time this weekend trying out the options you decribe above. Should I try them in sequence and test for a while after each change or do them all together?

Before I do anything, I'd be grateful for advice on the following: how come airport utlity on my ipad does not show the 'device not found' error? How can the wifi internet connection be working on all devices when airport utility on my imac says 'device not found'.

Many thanks.

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Answer 6

Dec 20, 2013 2:12 PM in response to europajan

First of all a simple reboot of the TC is usually enough to get it going..

If not then a reboot of the network.. shut everything off and turn on in correct sequence.. modem, TC. clients.

europajan wrote:

OK so today the issue is back. Airport Utlity says 'device not found'.

I will spend some time this weekend trying out the options you decribe above. Should I try them in sequence and test for a while after each change or do them all together?

Try them in sequence if you want.. the problem is you will have to work out which is going to be important by testing over several days if you do that.. Basically as soon as you start doing things .. any power cycle of the TC should bring it back into operation.

Before I do anything, I'd be grateful for advice on the following: how come airport utlity on my ipad does not show the 'device not found' error? How can the wifi internet connection be working on all devices when airport utility on my imac says 'device not found'.

Many thanks.

Excellent question.. the problem isn't the TC.. the problem is your computer. Or at least mostly your computer.. because it can be computer plus TC that is having the trouble. This issue was introduced at Lion and never fixed.. it doesn't catch everyone.. and so I still do not know the exact cause.. hence the scattergun approach with trialling multiple solutions. None of which btw may fully fix it but might alleviate it..

Mavericks has made it that much worse though.

Many more people are finding it doesn't work.. I personally am not upgrading to mavericks for a few more point revisions but I did get the same problem when helping a friend.

A new install of mavericks could find but not mount a Time Capsule.

I need to revise my post info above but cannot edit so please note this revision.

Using the TC name alone failed.. for no good reason..

So AFP://TCname to mount the drive was no good.. I had to use the full domain name.

The TC name should comply as I said.. short, no spaces and full alphanumeric.. mine is TCGen4.

AFP://TCGen4.local did work.

What this means is that the network on the computer is now too stupid to understand when a device is in its own local domain.. you have to explicitly tell it the domain.

So please take careful note as it is probably something you have never looked at.

When you setup the name. In the new utility it does not show domain any longer.

BUT the old utility did show it.

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Answer 7

Dec 20, 2013 2:16 PM in response to LaPastenague

Sorry had to start a new post.

You can see the default domain is .local

When you attempt to mount a drive in Mavericks if you need to do it via manual you have to use the domain as well.

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Answer 8

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Dec 23, 2013 5:56 PM in response to LaPastenague

Update: I set IPv6 to local both on my TC via Airport Utility, and in the wifi settings on my imac. Rebooted TC and imac and since then I've not had any device not found messages. This is about 36 hours ago.

It may not have solved the issue forever but so far so good.

Will keep updating.

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Answer 9

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Dec 27, 2013 2:49 PM in response to europajan

I've spent more time testing and I'm afraid the issue persists. Setting IPv6 to local did not resolve the issue as I had first thought. Time and again, my TC will grey out in Airport Utility and it says 'device not found.' Only turning wifi off and back on, or rebooting the TC, will make it visible again. sometimes it will be visible for hours, other times just minutes. Occasionally the TC has become visible again all by itself, without me doing anything. But this is rare. What bothers me most about this is the complete randomness of this problem!

Having read other threads I tried the following, none of which made a difference:

- create a separate name for the 5GHz network

- reboot my Netgear router which I'm using in modem mode

I've also observed various strange things in the Internet settings as seen in Airport Utility (as stated above my internet connectivity and wifi on my imac and all other devices is never interrupted):

- the router address sometimes changes from 77.101.152.1 to 10.0.1.1 (this happens when the TC disappears

from Airport Uitlity, but not every time)

- the first DNS server changes from 194.168.4.100 to 10.0.1.1 (as above)

- the second DNS server never changes. It is 194.168.8.100

When the TC is visible in Airport Utility (after turning wifi off/on), the names of the wireless clients connected to it sometimes change. For example, my imac is usually displayed by its name 'Janimac' but sometimes it displays its wifi address instead (D8:30:62:66:24:38). The same thing sometimes happens with my iphone.

As described above, this issue only occurs in Airport Utility on my imac. Using Aiport Utility on my ipad or iphone shows everything working fine at all times. Unlike people in other threads I've read, I never lose my wifi internet connection on any device.

TimeMachine is occasionally not backing up when it says it will (in TM preferences). But when I ask it to manually "back up now" it always works, even when the TC is greyed out in Airport Utility. So TM has no problem finding the TC disk even though Airport Utility can't see it.

Mounting the TC disk/sparsebundle manually (by double-clicking) so that Time Machine Backups appears in Finder is also no problem. I have also noticed that while a TM backup is running, the drive will mount automatically (I can see this in Disk Utility). After the TM back up is finished, it will unmount again automatically. I'm assuming that's how it should be.

I'm reluctant to try many more manual changes as I don't believe it will help and the problem seems to be one of Airport Utility on my imac, not of the TC which is working fine, both as a router and back up drive. I will try changing my DHCP lease from 1 day to 1 hour as you suggest but I've read elsewhere that people have tried this and/or setting it to 30 days with no improvement. But I'll give it a try. I"m less sure about forcing to AFP protocol. It just shouldn't be that complicated.

I'm tempted to just ignore Airport Utility on my imac as everything seems to be working even though it's telling me it can't find the TC. But because my TC and network setup is all new, I'm still concerned something might not be right.

You say lots of people are having this issue, esp since Maverick, but I've done lots of searches and only found similar, not identical issues. Other people's issues seemed to be worse with intermittent wifi connection.

I will keep trying but grateful for any more advice you might have. Also wondering if someone else has a view e.g. Bob Timmons seems to have contributed to similar discussions.

Thanks!

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Answer 10

Dec 27, 2013 5:12 PM in response to europajan

I've also observed various strange things in the Internet settings as seen in Airport Utility (as stated above my internet connectivity and wifi on my imac and all other devices is never interrupted):

- the router address sometimes changes from 77.101.152.1 to 10.0.1.1 (this happens when the TC disappears

from Airport Uitlity, but not every time)

- the first DNS server changes from 194.168.4.100 to 10.0.1.1 (as above)

- the second DNS server never changes. It is 194.168.8.100

This one is very important.

Let me just get clear.. if the modem is bridged you are using pppoe client on the TC?? Or are you using DHCP?

Exact model of the Netgear router please.. I don't think you have listed it so far.

Now I have another odd request.. I want you to obtain.. purchase.. beg . .borrow.. in some legal way a small 10/100 switch.. which I want you to plug in between the netgear modem and the TC.

I also want you to buy a cross over cable as an alternative to the switch. To plug in between the modem and the TC.

I want to stop this happening. so if those don't work, then I want you to go back to running the netgear as router and run the TC in bridge and see if that gives you any improvement.

Post lots of screenshots.. of things working and things failing.. it helps ever so much to see that detail as there are things you can miss that I can pick up.

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Answer 11

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 1, 2014 5:38 AM in response to LaPastenague

Sorry for the long radio silence... Happy new year to you!

I've been doing more monitoring on my imac and other devices. I doubt that using a 10/100 switch or crossover cable will solve this issue as I don't believe the modem/router to TC connection is the problem - my Internet connection is never interrupted, even when the TC is not found by Airport. Nevetheless I have ordered a switch and crossover cable from Amazon which should arrive on Saturday.

My Netgear router model is a Virgin Media Superhub DG480. I'm not sure this model is commercially available or only distributed through Virgin who is my broadband ISP.

Here is what I've tried and observed in the past few days:

- changed DCHP lease from 1 day to 1 hour, then rebooted TC. Result: no change (a few hours later, Airport Utility could not find TC)

- turned Time Machine off. Result: no change

- mounted TC disk. Result: no change. Mounted TC sparsebundle. Again, no change. (every time, TC is "not found" by Airport Utility after a while)

- switched off Netgear router, TC and imac for 30 minutes. Turned on modem, then TC 5 minutes later, then imac 5 minutes later. Then hard reset TC. Result: no change.

- disconnected other devices from TC which were connected by ethernet cable (TV and Bluray player). No change.

During all these tests, my imac was set to never sleep. When I do let it sleep and wake it up, the TC becomes visible again in Airport Utility. It's the same when I turn wifi off/on.

There is one new development which may be significant I think. My wife just got a new MacBookPro and I've been running Airport Utility on it (with the MBP set to never sleep) since yesterday. On the MBP the TC remains visible in Airport Utility at all times (just like on my ipad and iphone) even when it is not found in Airport Utility on my imac. What's more, since running Airport Utility simultaneously on MBP and imac, whenever Airport Utility 'loses' the TC on the imac, it finds it again in less than a minute! Before running the MBP in parallel, Airport Utility on the imac would show 'device not found' for hours before either finding it again by itself, or me resetting the wifi.

All this makes me think there is an issue with Airport Utility on my imac (mid-2010 model), recently updated from Snow Leopard to Mavericks. I did not have the TC before updating to Mavericks so cannot say what it would have been like on SL.

There is another issue with Time Machine which may or may not be related. I will post a new thread about this and link it to this one. Basically the issue is TM hourly scheduled backups are delayed but there is no error or warning message to say that they are. I've read Pondini FAQ and trouble shooting and cannot find this issue anywhere. Pondini says TM backups are scheduled exactly one hour after the start of the previous backup. But my backups start several minutes after the completion time of the previous backup. This delay varies from 2 minutes to about 20 minutes. Each time the scheduled time for the next backup passes without it starting and as a result TM starts showing the next backup one hour later. But then it starts backing up anyway some time after the completion time of the last backup.

For example, if the scheduled time for the next backup is 14:00 (and the completion time for the last backup was 13.05), at 14:01 no backup has started and the time for the next backup changes to 15:00. But then at 14.07 or around that time, the backup will start.

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Answer 12

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 1, 2014 9:44 AM in response to europajan

Addition:

having turned the MBP off, the issue in Airport Utility on the imac is as bad as before i.e. TC is not found and this can persist for hours unless I reset wifi. But when I turn the MBP back on, Airport Utility on the imac finds the TC again within 1-2 minutes. I have tried this several times now.

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Answer 13

Jan 1, 2014 11:26 AM in response to europajan

Yes,, Happy NY to you..

Thanks for relating your careful observations..

My observations are that,

1. Never upgrade install an OS.. it never has a happy outcome.. you always clean install and migrate the data back in again.

2. Mavericks is just a pain.. avoiding Mavericks has allowed me to avoid the pain. Sometimes the latest OS is well worth being one behind. But there are too many issues related around the networking that seem to be pure Mavericks I will load it onto a laptop and see if I can then reproduce any of these issues.

When people try to use wireless on older machines with Mavericks they seem to be having more issues..

There is a process of clearing the problem..

I just had this similar problem happen to me! Although you have probably resolved your issue by now, this is what I ended up doing to fix it.

1. Go to System Preferences and open 'Network' - or click your wifi triangle along the top tool bar and select 'open network preferences'.

2. Click your wifi on the left hand side from the list, and then click the small cog at the bottom of that box, and click 'Make Service Inactive'.

3. Once you've done that, click the minus to delete your wifi as an option from this box.

4. APPLY!!

All other instructions I read said to click the plus and add your wifi again and then restart. Well that did nothing for me, infact it did nothing about 7 or 8 times, soooooo...

5. Restart your computer now, without any wifi configuration setup.

6. Once restarted, go back into system preferences, into network, and use the + button to add a wifi connection back into your computer. With any luck, you will be able to click on 'Turn wifi on' and it will actually work!

From this thread. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5219345?tstart=30

I still don't know how to point to a particular post.. but it is byAtlantaElise

I probably thought you were on ethernet on the imac.. is it possible to run a cable??

Avoiding wireless is always a good first step to avoiding network issues.

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Answer 14

Jan 1, 2014 11:58 AM in response to LaPastenague

I have some other crazy stuff for you to try.. if the wake up packet is not working..

Lets see if we can force it.

Open Network Utility and do a scan of netstat.

Notice the TC name in the listing.

Then do a port scan of the TC.

Notice the open ports.. 5009 and 10000 both will open to telnet but no commands are going to work..

So just type into terminal a command like this

telnet TCname 5009 (where the TCname can also be IP address of the TC.).

When I do this the TC is open..

telnet 192.168.2.146 5009

Trying 192.168.2.146...

Connected to tcgen4.lan.

Escape character is '^]'.

just press enter a heap of time.. anything else you like.. it is just to wake it up.. it will close telnet automatically after 5min.

See if that wakes it up again.

But it might get the airport utility to discover the TC again.

The same as the MBP is keeping it awake because it is correctly sending the packet to keep it open.

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Answer 15

Omibara

Level 1

9 points

Jan 3, 2014 1:05 PM in response to europajan

europajan,

Thanks for keeping up with your thread. I'm also having the same problem you are. I have to manually reset the airport timecapsule to be able to backup my macbook pro. Once the airport utilies don't show the device on the mac or any of the iOS devices and know it's offline regardless that it's wifi radio and ethernet fuctions work. There is nothing wrong with Mavrick, nor your network or anything else. It's this piece of crap Airport TC that has the problem and Apple needs to fix it.

Omi

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